King Shark (Arrowverse)
NOTE: This article is about the incarnation of King Shark from the Arrowverse. The mainstream version can be found here: King Shark. King Shark is an antagonist in the second and third seasons and an anti-hero/supporting protagonist in the fifth season of The Flash. He hails from Earth-2 and was sent by Zoom to kill Barry Allen. After failing in killing the Flash, King Shark was imprisoned at an A.R.G.U.S. facility but eventually escaped and returned to fight the Flash once more. Although A.R.G.U.S. even teamed up with Team Flash, they at first did not succeed in recapturing King Shark, who later stormed the West house in order to find Barry. King Shark was eventually lured into a trap by Barry who ultimately defeated King Shark by electrocuting him while in the water. King Shark was returned to A.R.G.U.S. where he was used to guard an extra-terrestrial energy source. In his human form, he is portrayed by Dan Payne. In his shark form, he is voiced by David Hayter, who is famous for providing the voices of the characters Solid Snake and Big Boss in the Metal Gear video game series. History Past On Earth-2 Shay Lamden was a marine biologist until the explosion of the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator turned him into a meta-human. As many meta-humans before him, he was brought to Earth-One by Zoom to kill the Flash. Sent to Central City King Shark is first mentioned in the episode The Fury of Firestorm, where Officer Patty Spivot finds shark teeth in an alley in Central City. She also claims that a witness saw a shark walking on land. She belives that it is a meta-human and Barry tests the teeth to find only human DNA, disproving the idea of a man-shark. However, King Shark is shown to be real when he attacks the Flash, who had been watching Spivot sitting in a café. Claiming that Zoom wants Barry dead, King Shark intends to kill Barry but is stopped when Spivot, who has left the cafe by then, sees him. Drawing her gun Spivot tells King Shark to yield but he only laughs. He throws Barry aside and advances onto Spivot. Though Spivot shoots at him multiple times King Shark shows no sign of injury and is only defeated when he is shot in the back with an energy weapon by a hooded man who is revealed to be Earth-2's Harrison Wells. Escape from A.R.G.U.S. Although Barry and Patty believed him to be dead, King Shark in truth was imprisoned at an A.R.G.U.S. facility on Amanda Waller's orders. Waller wanted to find out if any of King Shark's powers could be weaponized. At the facility, King Shark was kept in a water tank, it's only opening covered by lasers. During feeding time, one of the soldiers guarding the tank realises that King Shark is not moving. Believing that the giant shark is dead, he orders the lasers to be deactivated and tells his men to be prepared to fish the body out of the water. However, King Shark is revealed to be perfectly alive when he vaults out of the water. The alarm is raised, which draws A.R.G.U.S. leader Layla Diggle and her husband John to the aquarium and both arrive just in time to see King Shark devour a guard before escaping. Layla and Diggle visit Central City and warn Barry that King Shark escaped and heads to Central City to kill Barry. Layla tells Barry that while imprisoned by A.R.G.U.S. King Shark kept repeating that Zoom wants the Flash dead. Knowing that King Shark would need to return to the water after a few hours to reoxinate, Layla sends A.R.G.U.S. teams to locations near the water. Attacking the West House While possible locations for King Shark are checked by A.R.G.U.S., Cisco and Caitlin visit the lab of the wife of King Shark'S Earth-1 counterpart. There, the woman gives them insight on her shark research. While Barry converses with Diggle and Layla, King Shark attacks two A.R.G.U.S. agents, killing both of them in one bite. When the rest of the group arrives King Shark is gone. King Shark later attacks Barry Allen and Wally West at the West house, ripping open the entire roof. He demands to know where the Flash is. Barry and Wally free from the room and Barry quickly changes into his Flash uniform. He speeds onto the street and gains the attention of King Shark. King Shark claims once more that Zoom wants him dead. Barry replies that he expects that Zoom promised King Shark that he could return home in exchange for the Flash's death. He reveals to King Shark that he closed all breaches leading to Earth-2 and that there is no way for King Shark to return. Angrily, King Shark attacks, eventually smashing Barry against a nearby car. However, before he can kill Barry he is scared away by the sounds of A.R.G.U.S. soldiers approaching. Before leaving, he claims that while Flash may be fast, he is not as fast as King Shark in the water and that they will never catch him in his element. Trap for King Shark After finding out that King Shark senses the electricity in Barry's body, the team plans to set a trap for King Shark by reprogramming a satelite to create a specific electric field. At the waterside, they tie a Flash puppet to a buoy and, using the oppurtunity, Cisco triggers the alarm to play the Jaws soundtrack when King Shark approaches. Though King Shark does not show himself for many hours, he eventually takes the bait, jumping out of the watter and grabbing the lure with his teeth. However, once he realises that he only took a puppet, King Shark spits out the dummy and emerges at the docks. The A.R.G.U.S. agents open fire but the giant shark is not affected at all. To save the agents, Barry runs out onto the water, followed by King Shark. To beat his enemy, Barry runs in circles, creating a swirl and electrifying the water at the same time. King Shark is drawn in by the swirl and held at bay and, when Barry creates another lightning bolt and lunges it at King Shark, is affected by the electricity in the water and knocked out. He is then taken by A.R.G.U.S. and returned to one of their headquarters. After this is ensured, Layla claims that the plans to turn him into a weapon died with Amanda Waller and that A.R.G.U.S. will focus on producing a cure for his condition instead. A.R.G.U.S. Captivity After the Dominator invasion is stopped, A.R.G.U.S. obtains some of their alien technology and stores it in one of their facilities. In order to guard it, they place meta-human power dampeners inside the entire building in order to stop potential meta-human attacks and furthermore use King Shark as an elaborate guard dog. When Barry and Leonard Snart break into A.R.G.U.S. in order to steal the power source, they try to open the door which seperates them from the source. However, they soon find out that King Shark is inside the room and they realize they have a problem. Barry is ready to kill King Shark in order to obtain the device but Snart stops him and reveals that the Great White Shark is partially succebtible to cold and that he might fall asleep should the temperature get too low. Snart then slides one of his tools into the room, which creates a frosty mist. King Shark is indeed affected by the cold and eventually passes out. Barry and Snart enter the room, which is still covered by the mist, but then realize that King Shark is not as affected as they think he is. Hidden by the mist, King Shark still growls and seems to be regaining his consciousness quickly. Barry manages to grab the energy source but this causes the door to spring shut. Although Barry manages to get out in time, Snart is locked in the room with King Shark who is already getting back up. By hacking into the system, Cisco manages to open the door again and Snart crawls underneath it. However, King Shark manages to get hold of his legs and tries to pull Snart back. Cisco closes the door again, which falls down onto King Shark's hand - cutting it off clean. Snart is safe and he and Barry look through the window back into the room where King Shark's hand is regenerating completely within seconds. King Shark sees them through the window as well but cannot do anything to get to them. Hours before his wedding, Barry fights King Shark, who seems to have escaped from A.R.G.U.S., in Central City and takes him down. Fighting Grodd With their newly completed meta-human cure ready to use, Team Flash decided to find someone to test it on to ensure that it'd work. They then met up with Tanya Lamden (who was the widow of Shay's Earth-1 counterpart) and Lyla at A.R.G.U.S., hoping to test the cure on King Shark. Tanya had formed a close friendship with Shay, and informed him that some people had come, wanting to help him. Tanya talked to Shay via a set of earbuds she'd designed that linked to a device (which she called a telepathic crown) she'd built for Shay which she'd designed to halt the regression of his neural pathways that had been caused by the dark matter in his system (which had been causing Shay's mind to become less human, and more like a shark). She spoke to him, and when he came out of the water, he asked them if their cure could really help him. However, he then suddenly threw aside the telepathic crown and ran off. Team Flash and A.R.G.U.S. then began searching for Shay. When Caitlin informed Barry and Cisco Shay had been found at the wharf, they then suited up and headed to his location. Once there, they waited for Shay at the water's edge. When Shay came ashore, he abruptly grabbed Cisco; fearing Shay would eat Cisco, Barry quickly inject Shay with the cure. This prompted Shay to drop Cisco, with the former falling backwards into the water. When he emerged a moment later, he'd reverted to his human form. Team Flash then brought Shay back to S.T.A.R. Labs to rest. While Team Flash seemed to have successfully turned Shay back into a normal human, after running further tests, they found that they'd need to inject Shay a second time in order for the cure's effects to be permanent. Due to DeVoe's actions the night of the Enlightenment, the meta-dampeners in Grodd's cell at A.R.G.U.S. were momentarily disabled. This gave him a window that he needed to take control of a guard's mind, forcing that guard to cut power to his cell, thereby allowing Grodd to escape. He later stole the telepathic crown, which Grodd then used on himself to enhance his own psychic abilities, intending to take control of the minds of everyone in Central City. When Shay learned what Grodd had done and what the evil gorilla planned to do with the device, Shay asked that Team Flash turn him back into King Shark so that he could try to stop him, due to the fact that his more animal-like mind as King Shark kept Grodd from controlling him. Team Flash warned Shay that if they allowed him to turn back into King Shark, it may be impossible to return him to his human state. However, Shay opted to be transformed again, due to the fact that he wanted to attempt to make up for the trouble he'd caused as King Shark. Cisco then hit Shay with a vibe-blast, causing him to return to his humanoid shark form. Grodd and Shay then engaged in a fierce battle. While Grodd seemed to gain the upper-hand, with a bit of help from Barry and Nora, Shay was able to come out on top, reclaiming the device from the evil gorilla. Grodd was then taken back into A.R.G.U.S. custody, where he was placed into a medically induced coma, thereby preventing him from being able to use his psychic powers. Shay was later seen in a new tank of water at A.R.G.U.S., with Tanya watching him. Tanya was saddened that she could not help Shay become human again, but Shay expressed gratitude toward Tanya for everything that she had done for him, saying that he loved her. Personality As seen after Barry injected him with the meta-human cure, causing Shay to revert to his human form, Shay deeply regretted the trouble he caused as King Shark. For this reason, when Barry and Nora went up against Grodd but ended up getting immobilized due to the latter's psychic abilities, Shay selflessly volunteered to be turned back into King Shark, due to the fact that his shark-form's more animal-like mind kept Grodd from being able to control him, even when Team Flash told him that if he turned back into King Shark, it would be impossible for them to make him human again. He is also shown to be incredibly animalistic in nature. Once he finds a target, he is fixated on it and will stop at nothing to complete his mission. This is shown when he continuously mutters "Zoom wants the Flash dead" while in A.R.G.U.S. captivity, and later tracks him across a city into a suburb using bio-electric location and smell alone. Despite his insanity, he is somehow intelligent enough to play possum long enough for A.R.G.U.S. to deactivate his laser grid, and was somehow able to distinguish Barry Allen's scent and bio-electricity among other people. Shay also could have brief moments of almost human pride, telling Flash that he could never run as fast as Shay could swim. Powers and Abilities Powers *'Shark physiology': Due to the particle accelerator explosion on Earth 2, Shay became a superhuman with physical characteristics and abilities of both humans and sharks. **'Superhuman strength': Shay has shown great physical strength when he effortlessly grabbed Barry and held him up with one hand, with Barry being helpless as Shay gripped his neck. He also showed greater levels of physical strength when he tore open the roof of the West house during another attempt to find The Flash. During his attack on the West house, King Shark was able to knock down The Flash while he was running at super speed. **'Superhuman durability': Shay can withstand very high levels of physical damage, as shown when he was shot multiple times by Patty, but sustained no damage, as the bullets ricocheted off of him. This was proven again when he was able to face off against A.R.G.U.S. agents and get shot at plenty of times and simply remark that guns and bullets can't hurt him. King Shark's durability is far beyond that of average humans as he was able to take several lightning bolts hurled by the Flash. **'Superhuman speed': Shay is able to move at speeds far faster than humans. His superhumanly strong legs allow him to run very fast on land, although he is much faster in the water, as he was able to swim at speeds comparable to the Flash. Although he is still not as fast as Barry. **'Superhuman senses': Shay is able to sense the bio-electricity in living creatures, as a normal shark does to allow it to track fish, which allowed him to track down the Flash's powerful electrical signature throughout an entire city. **'Regenerative Healing Factor': Shay's physiological cells are regenerative in nature, thus allowing King Shark able to rapidly heal from extensive injuries. Abilities *'Stealth': Despite his size, Shay was able to sneak up on The Flash. *'Tactics': Shay is a skilled tactician, as he was able to escape an A.R.G.U.S. holding tank and track down the Flash using his superhuman senses. Weaknesses *'Electricity': King Shark has has a huge weakness when it comes to electricity, especially in water, which is how Barry was able to beat him. *'Mercury Labs Energy Rifle': Being hit by a blast from this energy rifle is enough to render Shay unconscious. *'Temperature': Due to his partially great white shark-like physiology, like a great white shark, if the temperature of Shay's surroundings drops below 53.6 degrees Fahrenheit, he falls unconscious. *'Tonic Immobility': Because of his shark physiology, if Shay's body is upside-down, it will cause him to enter into a state of paralysis. *'Water dependency': Due to his shark physiology, Shay must stay in or regularly return to water to re-oxygenate his blood, which restricts his ability to operate on dry land for long periods of time. *'Neural regression' (formerly): Over time, as the dark matter flowed through Shay's body, his neural pathways began to regress, causing his mind to become "more shark-like" as Barry put it. 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